March 9, 2016 - WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES - A woman who was the victim of a violent attack by dogs has died, according to the Harborview Medical Center.

Gladys Alexander, 92, walked across the street late Sunday to
give her neighbor a newspaper when she was attacked by four pit bull mix
dogs.

Thurston County Sheriff's investigators say the homeowner was running
errands and returned home to find the dogs attacking Alexander. She
stopped the attack.

Only a KIRO 7 camera was there as investigators for Thurston County
Animal Services removed the dogs from the Scott Lake home near Olympia.

Their docile demeanor, a stark contrast to the way they behaved when a television crew showed up Monday.

WATCH: World War II veteran dies from injuries suffered in dog bite.

It was very likely the same way they seemed late Sunday afternoon when
Gladys Alexander walked into the house while, unbeknownst to her, the
homeowner was away. Those who saw Alexander after the attack said the
dogs tore away nearly all the flesh from a leg and an arm.

She died at 11:55 a.m. Tuesday at Harborview Medical Center.

As word spread, those living in her tight-knit neighborhood began
bringing flowers to her home. The authorities say that though Alexander
was killed by the dogs, no crime was committed because they were
confined to their home and she, in effect, trespassed.

It is a bitter pill, however, for those who knew her.

"I understand that," said Nancy Jenrette. "At the same time, it just
feels so criminal that she had to have suffered so tragically and that
she ended up having to die in this manner. It's just horrific."

The owner of the dogs has agreed to have one dog euthanized. The other three dogs belong to her daughter who is in jail.

They will all be quarantined for 10 days while a decision is made about their fate.

Law enforcement on dog attacks in Western Washington

After a 63-year-old woman was attacked by pitbulls in SeaTac in summer
2009, King County Sheriff John Urquhart - then a sergeant and
department spokesman -- said deputies see more animal-related calls in
the summer.

"People will say there are no bad dogs, just bad dog owners," he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at the time. "We don't agree with that."

Seattle Animal Shelter Don Jordan has said Seattle's approach is to
"focus on the deed, not the breed." He has that take after that SeaTac
attack and another in that city, and had the same response when there
were calls to ban Rottweilers in Seattle in the 1990s.

In 2012, the last complete year for which KIRO 7 has complete
data, there were 30 reports of pit bulls biting humans, more than any
other dog breed.

There were 18 reports for Labrador retrievers and nine reports for Rottweilers that year. - KIRO7.

Firefighters at the scene of a building explosion in Seattle early Wednesday. Associated Press

March 9, 2016 - SEATTLE, UNITED STATES - An explosion
in Seattle on Wednesday flattened two buildings and shook a
neighborhood, prompting a large response by emergency officials. At
least nine firefighters were reported injured in the blast. The
suspected cause was a natural gas leak.

The explosion, reported around 1:45 a.m. Pacific time, was so loud that it could be heard as far away as Shoreline, a community about 10 miles north of downtown Seattle.

The police and firefighters descended on the scene, near the intersection of Greenwood Avenue North and 85th Avenue North, in Greenwood, a neighborhood in the north-central part of the city.

The blast shook the neighborhood, which is known for its concentration
of restaurants, bars and coffee shops and has of late been home to
middle-class families and upscale professionals.

According to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the explosion leveled two buildings, one of them a convenience store, and blew out several windows of nearby buildings.
The Fire Department said that 67 employees were sent to the scene.

March 9, 2016 - INDIA - Five persons were killed and three injured when lightning struck them
during a recent hailstorm in Rajasthan which also damaged crops in 1007
villages in many districts, Disaster Management and Relief Minister
Gulabchand Kataria said on Wednesday.

March 9, 2016 - TEXAS, UNITED STATES - Severe storms and several EF-1 tornadoes blew through North Texas on Tuesday.According to Stephenville Fire Marshall Cody Derrick, this was the first time in more than 20 years that the town had been directly struck by tornadoes.

The National Weather Service said tornadoes hit the towns of
Stephenville and Tolar on Tuesday morning. The service also confirmed an
EF-1 hit the community of Cool on Monday evening, for a total of three
tornadoes in 24 hours.

The Tolar tornado was captured on video by Jared Morris when he was at
work on Tuesday morning. The video shows the funnel cloud, debris flying
through the air and power flashes.
About a dozen mobile homes were damaged or destroyed in Tolar and two
people suffered non-life threatening injuries. Sheriff's officials in
Hood County said winds of 60-70 MPH also hit the area.

Jack Fisk, owner of the mobile home park, survived the storm. But he was
still reeling from seeing his two neighbors, a husband and wife, who
were tossed and injured in the tornado.

"We found Glinda in the middle of it, she could still walk. Johnny was
blown out the back end of it. He was up against the yellow trailer
next-door," Fisk said.
The same storm moved through Stephenville and damaged parts of Tarleton State University and a foster home.

An apartment complex that houses many students off-campus was the
hardest hit, with the roof ripped off half of the building. Officials
said university students were on Spring Break, which likely prevented
numerous injuries.

The Fosters Home for Children had to be evacuated due to heavy damage.
More than 40 foster children have been relocated for at least two days.
None of the children were injured in the storm. - FOX 4 News.

2 Killed as Storms Hit U.S. South, Flood Emergency Declared in Louisiana After 335mm of Rain

A
slow moving storm dumped massive amounts of rain on parts of Louisiana
and eastern Texas from Tuesday 08 March. Some areas saw over 14 inches
(355 mm) of rain in 24 hours with more heavy rain forecast until Friday
11 March.

At least 2 deaths have been reported as a result of the
storm and floods, one in Dickinson Bayou, Texas, the other when a
vehicle was swept off the road in floodwaters in Bienville Parish,
Louisiana.

Louisiana

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency in 16 parishes in the northern part of the state.

In
a statement he said that Acadia, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne,
Desoto, East Carroll, Grant, Lincoln, Morehouse, Ouachita, Red River,
Richland, Union, Webster and West Carroll have declared or are in the
process of declaring states of emergency in order to assist residents in
areas damaged by the severe weather.

WATCH: Flash flooding swamps Louisiana.

National Weather Service Shreveport said:

“Very
heavy rainfall developed during the afternoon of Tuesday, and continued
through the overnight and into the daytime hours of Wednesday. Rainfall
amounts of over 14 inches were recorded in a few locations before the
rain ended. Many locations have experienced extreme flash flooding,
particularly across East Texas and Louisiana. Numerous roadways were
flooded and closed. Many schools across the area were closed. Numerous
high-water rescues were performed. Homes and businesses were evacuated
in many locations, particularly in Haughton and Minden, LA.”

In
Haughton around 100 homes were flooded in the Tall Timbers area. The
Shreveport Times says “residents were forced to flee when at least 5
feet of water inundated their homes.”

Bossier Parish was also one
of the hardest hit by floods. Over 100 roads have been closed in the
area and officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for residents of
3,500 homes.

A Bossier Sheriff spokesman said:

“We’ve had folks who had to be rescued off rooftops, people rescued from cars, clinging to trees.”

Texas

In
East Texas, the City of Kilgore has declared a state of emergency.
Flooding in the city has prompted evacuations and required several flood
rescues.

A disaster has also been declared in Gregg County.
County Judge Bill Stoudt says the county has suffered widespread or
severe damage resulting from flash flooding and substantial rainfall.

Several
homes have been reported as damaged by floods in Lake Mexia, south of
Dallas. Around 40 homes are flooded and 150 people have evacuated,
according to Limestone County Emergency Management Coordinator.

Rainfall Figures

Rainfall
figures according to NWS Shreveport. Figures in inches, for a 24 hour
period to early (between 07:00 and 09:00) 09 March 2016.

Due
to the slow movement of the storm, heavy rain and thunderstorms will
continue to affect many of the same areas until Friday 11 March, NWS
said. Flash flood watches were in place for parts of Texas, Louisiana,
Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and southern Illinois.

Parts of central England were some of the worst affected by flooding. There were reports of cars submerged in flood water up to 1 metre deep in parts of Leicestershire and Warwickshire. Local media report that some motorists were stranded in their vehicles and required rescuing. Several schools were closed in Warwickshire.

Roads were blocked and rail transport severely disrupted, in particular between Rugby and Milton Keynes. A spokesman for train operator, London Midland, said: “Once the floodwater subsides we are still faced with trains and train crew out of place across the network.”

By the afternoon of 09 March, the Environment Agency had issued 43 flood warnings across England and Wales.

There are currently 55 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected and immediate action is required, mostly for parts of the Midlands. There are also 164 flood alerts, stretching across England to the south coast and parts of the South West. There are no severe flood warnings, meaning danger to life.

John Curtin, Interim Executive Director of Flood and Coastal Risk Management at the Environment Agency, said via Twitter that “the rain has cleared but we still have lots of water around,” and warned that rivers are still peaking.

Rainfall Figures

The Met Office said “Rainfall totals were in the order of 20-30mm with as much as 40mm possible once the rain clears later today. These figures are consistent with our forecasts and the severe weather warnings issued yesterday.”

The storm was described as the #stormwithnoname by some on social media, with many expecting it to be named as with previous storms (the latest being storm Imogen (07 to 08 February 2016) and
Jake (01 to 02 March 2016).

The Met Office, together with Met Éireann started a pilot project “Name our Storms” during autumn last year to help raise awareness of severe weather.

The Met Office explained why this particular storm was left nameless. “Storms are named by the Met Office when medium or high impacts are forecast as a result of high winds. As this weather system was not expected to meet this criteria it was not named.”

Heavy thunderstorms and flash flooding to hit UAE, Iran and Oman this week

A series of tropical disturbances will move across the Middle East this week, bringing heavy thunderstorms. This will lead to flash flooding across much of UAE, Iran and Oman.

Locally heavy downpours will develop over the next few days thereby
causing normally dry rivers to swell, inundating some roads. The maximum
threat of flooding will be from eastern Oman to southeastern Iran.
Eastern Oman cities like Muscat and Sohar
will be majorly affected by flash flooding this week. A low-pressure
system moving over Iran on Tuesday and Wednesday will lead to an
increase in thunderstorm activity and these are the days when the risk
of flooding will be the greatest. These severe thunderstorms will move
into southeast Iran as well and will affect areas from Bahl to Chabahar
and inland towards Zahedan.

In Dubai
also, rain will occur for several days this week. But the city will
escape the flood fury. Despite this, the downpours will lead to travel
disruptions. The people in the city have been warned not to drive on
flooded roads.

This series of showers and thunderstorms will move in a
northerly direction towards Afghanistan and Pakistan this week. While,
the flooding will not be as severe as to the south, the downpours could
lead to rivers overflowing. Isolated and spotty thunderstorms could
develop in and around Karachi this week.

The final low-pressure system is expected to leave the region later this
week and this will lead to decreased thunderstorm activity. Dry weather
is expected during the weekend.

6 Dead After Floods in Cuanza Sul Province in Angola, Death Toll Rises in Huíla Floods

Deadly floods have struck once again in Angola, this time in Cuanza Sul Province, just days after tragedy struck in the city of Lubango where flash floods killed 24 people and left many more missing.

Cuanza Sul Province

ANGOP, the government news agency in Angola, report that at least 6 people have died in floods in Cuanza Sul Province between 05 and 07 March 2016.

The fatalities occurred in Quissala and Bumba neighbourhoods of Sumbe Municipality, in the central Cuanza Sul Province. Four of the victims, all children, died after a house collapsed. A further 16 houses have also been destroyed in the floods. ANGOP report that 168 houses, a hospital and 3 schools have also been damaged.

Death Toll Rises in Lubango, Huíla

More bodies have been recovered by emergency workers in Lubango, Huíla, bringing the death toll to 29. Heavy rain fell for around 9 hours on Monday 29 February 2016. Local media report that two rivers – the Capitao and the Caculuvar – overflowed on 01 March, leaving a train of devastation.

A few days after the tragedy, the Archbishop of Lubango, Gabriel Mbilingui called on the that the Angolan government to prevent people building homes in risk areas to avoid losses in human life. He added that the state must strengthen awareness and dialogue showing the people the dangers of this kind of behaviour.

Speaking to ANGOP, the Archbishop said: “The government must stop construction in risk zones….Even if sometimes people do not know the danger of certain conditions, the competent authorities must always act since it is why they are there.”

Lunda Sul Province

Local media in Angola have also reported that floods and heavy rain since the start of the year have destroyed 308 homes in the municipalities of Cacolo, Dala and Saurimo, leaving at least 1,544 people homeless in he eastern province of Lunda Sul.

A further 59 homes have been damaged. Flooding has also caused damage to transport, bridges and schools.

Heavy rain continued affecting several areas of Indonesia over the last week. Media report that over 1,000 homes have suffered damage and hundreds of people have evacuated in parts of Jakarta. At least 2 people have died and 1 is missing after heavy rain triggered landslides in the Cianjur Regency of West Java province.

Jambi and South Kalimantan

Hundreds of houses have been flooded in Sarolangun Regency of Jambi, and Tanah Bumbu Regency, South Kalimantan, according to a spokesman from Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB).

West Java Landslides

Heavy rain has also affected areas of Lampung, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, West Java over the last few days.

Several landslides were reported in Cianjur Regency, West Java province. On 09 March, a landslide injured 11 people and damaged a hotel building in Cianjur town. The previous day landslides in the villages of Sukaresmi and Sukamahi left two people dead and one missing.

Jakarta Floods

BNPD said that heavy rain upstream in the Puncak areas, the mountainous region in West Java, caused levels of the Ciliwung River to rise quickly on Monday 07 March 2016. Several districts in East and South Jakarta were flooded as a result.

The Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency reported on Tuesday 08 March that floods were affecting 8,815 people from 2,507 households. Berita Jakarta reports that over 400 households were evacuated in Rawajati, South Jakarta.

Floods in Canada to Cost $673 Million Per Year

Looking across the Bow River at the Calgary downtown core towards
Prince’s Island Park from Crescent Heights during the flood of June 21,
2013.
Photo credit: Wilson Hui, CC BY 2.0

The Canadian parliament anticipate that the effects of climate change will rocket over the next five years, costing over $900 million dollars per year.

Floods, hurricanes and storms are on in the increase, and the predicted cost is hugely over average budgets for such extreme weather in the past. Storms alone will cost the government $229 million per year, but flooding will be even more expensive at $673 per year over the next five years.

The report was released from the parliamentary budget office, and has pointed to global warming and climate change as a probable cause for the sharp increase in extreme weather and flooding of the Canadian prairies.

The report states that “the warming in the Arctic has been associated with persistent weather systems in the mid-latitudes as well as extreme weather events. Consistent with this, multiple-day rain events have significantly increased in the Prairie provinces and in the Rockies. The recent record setting multiple-day rainfalls in southeastern Saskatchewan in 2010 and 2014 are likely examples.”

The Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements is a government fund which will inject money into areas that are hit by flooding and extreme conditions. One of the contributing factors to the high outlays from flooding is a problem with insurance. Many Canadians living in at-risk areas cannot afford a decent insurance plan which will cover flood damage.

“In addition, the program’s design does not incentivize active flood damage mitigation in many of the affected areas. For example, over the past 10 years (2005-2014), Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta have accounted for 82 per cent of all DFAA weather event costs, almost all of which are a result of flooding, despite accounting for only 18% of Canada’s population.”

Another factor is the regulation of the floodplains in the region.

“Furthermore, Saskatchewan has unlicensed drainage of wetlands that increases peak flows during floods and Alberta appears to have inaccurate flood maps. Furthermore, in creating flood maps, Alberta does not take into account rising groundwater and debris floods on steep mountain creeks,” the report states.
But these increasing figures are not a new occurrence for the Canadian government. Natural disasters caused by extreme weather have been on the rise for the past twenty years, and therefore, so have the costs. The federal disaster fund increased from $54 million per year between 1970 and 1994, to $290 million between 1995 and 2004, and an incredible $410 million since 2005.

The sharp rise can be attributed to certain events which ended up being major Canadian disasters. Saskatchewan experienced a period of extremely heavy rain in 2014, Toronto suffered from an ice storm in December 2013, Alberta and British Columbia were hit by serious flooding in June 2013, and Manitoba’s Assiniboine River burst its banks in 2011. The reason these past events have such an impact on the predictions of the report is because actual transfer of funds to the areas hit may take up to eight years.

Extreme weather included in the report were hurricanes, convective storms and winter storms, but the most costly was that of flooding. The costs of all these disasters have had a significant effect on the government, and the report reflects the increase in events with an increase in cost.

More Floods Hit Sarawak, Malaysia After 93 mm of Rain in 24 Hours

In a seemingly endless wave of floods in Serawak, Malaysia, heavy rain has once again forced dozens from their homes, this time in Sarikei.

Malaysia disaster authorities report that around 34 people have been evacuated and are currently housed in a relief centre.

According to WMO figures, 93.2 mm of rain fell in 24 hours between 07 and 08 March in Sibu, Serawak.

Malaysian Meteorological Department have issued a warning for further heavy rain for several areas of Sarawak, including Mukah, Sibu, Sarikei, Betong, Sri Aman, Serian, Samarahan and Kuching.Fourth Flood Event Since Early February 2016

This is the fourth serious flood event to strike in the state since the start of February and the late onset of the rainy season.

A torrential downpour that began early on Saturday 27 February caused severe flooding in and some landslides in the district of Serian. Other areas affected included Padawan, Penrissen and Bau-Lundu. The state’s capital city, Kuching, was also badly affected, with some streets under 70 cm of water at the peak of the floods.

Flooding that began on 19 February affected as many as 10,000, according to Malaysian disaster management authorities, with around 7,000 evacuated at the peak of the floods. One man died when he was swept away by flood water near to a river in Kampung Maan in Padawan.

After heavy rain on 05 February, 1,361 people were evacuated in Sarawak, mostly from areas of Kuching.

A dead whale washed ashore at Silver Strand State Beach on Coronado Island on Tuesday morning.

The 23-foot carcass appeared to be a humpback whale calf that was dead
before it washed ashore, according to a San Diego National History
Museum employee.

Park workers taped off the area of the beached whale to keep spectators,
who were snapping photos, at distance for public safety concerns,
including bio hazard.

The whale had been found between the park entrance and parking lot 1.

Park officials told NBC 7 that they had contacted the National Oceanic
Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA), which will determine how to move the
beached whale.

NOAA was conducting a forensic investigation of the carcass to determine the whale's cause of death.
A park spokesman said Tuesday afternoon that the park is working on
plans to remove the carcass "as soon as possible," which will cost
several thousand dollars for contracted hauling.

WATCH: Dead whale washes ashore on Silver Strand State Beach.

A NOAA spokesperson said the whale would be removed on Wednesday.

A woman visiting San Diego from Utah said it was an unexpected and sad sight.

"I just came down to search for some seashells on the beach and I came across something different," Jeni Galbraith said.

"Just sad," she added. "You don't want to see anything like this."

Tina Matthias of the Living Coast Discovery Center said she suspects the
calf became separated from his mother during the El Nino storm.

"Probably got washed up with the storm, unfortunately," she said.

The whale was first spotted by the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday night nine
miles off shore dead in the water; since Monday night, witnesses on
Coronado have reported seeing it washed ashore. - NBC San Diego.

Rare beaked whale washes up dead in Zeeland, Netherlands

The dead body of a rare beaked whale measuring almost five metres has been washed up close to the Zeeland port of Vlissingen.

The body of the mammal, which weighed some 930 kilos, has been taken to
Utrecht University where vets will try to determine the cause of death,
local news website PZW says.

Three rare whales strand on beach in New Zealand

One of three whales which stranded on Ruakaka Beach. PHOTO/Imran Ali

Three rare Gray's beaked whales discovered dead on Ruakaka Beach this
morning will be buried at a sacred site just off the beach.

The whales stranded at high tide, possibly just before dawn, but marine mammal experts were unsure as to why they they swam close to shore as they are usually deep sea dwellers.Orca
expert Ingrid Visser, Whale Rescue's technical adviser Steve Whitehouse
and Department of Conservation marine ranger Marie Jordan travelled to
the site, about 2km south of the Ruakaka Surf Lifesaving Club, to
determine what type of whales they were and to make arrangements for
their removal.

Local iwi have given their permission for Dr Visser to perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death. - New Zealand Herald.

Greek mythology has stories about Chimaera, a monstrous fire-breathing
lion, goat and snake hybrid and one has been recently caught off the
coast of Newfoundland.

But this creature is a deep sea fish with a slimy body, green glowing eyes and ribbed fins that look like feathered wings.

This eerie catch is said to be a long-nose chimaera that branched off from sharks almost 400 million years ago.

The fish was caught during a commercial fishing excursion off the Grand Banks and St. Pierre and Miquelon, reports CBC News.Scott
Tanner, the Lunenburg man who pulled the lifeless creature from the
ocean, was about one month into the 40-day trip that was fishing for cod
and red fish.

'There's lots of other weird stuff that comes out [of the ocean] but that one definitely stood out ... I don't imagine many people have seen one,' he said in an interview with CBC News.

'All the production stopped and everything so everybody could check it out.'

'Even the older guys that are 50, 60 years old, they've seen maybe one
in their lifetime so they thought it was pretty neat and I snapped a
couple pictures.'

The chimaera weighed between two and five kilograms, but was already dead when it was pulled from the net.

WATCH: Rhinochimaeridae, commonly known as long-nosed chimaeras.

Tanner told News Nation that the sudden change in pressure was most likely the cause of death.

Andrew Hebda, curator of zoology at the Museum of Natural History in
Halifax, told News Nation that the chimera's eyes were likely bulging
out because of how fast it was pulled from the water.

Long-nose chimaeras are one of three chimaera species in North Atlantic waters, but seeing one is quite uncommon because they live more than several hundred meters below the surface.

The spooky fish has a long nose, menacing mouth and a venomous spine atop its gelatinous body.

Although this creature looks like something from of a nightmare, it
feeds on shrimp and crabs and is completely harmless to humans.

Like all chimaeras, the long-nosed species is a distant relative of
sharks and rays and is one of the oldest species of fish in the world.

They also have cartilaginous skeletons, but until their relatives they have one external gill opening that is covered by a flap.

Its beady eyes are designed to find food along the dark sea floor, which only glow if they are exposed to light.

Sometimes called the ghost shark, it has a whip-like tail and can grow to around three feet long.

Their pectoral fins are wide and flat, similar to wings, which makes them seem as if they are 'flying' through the water.

Another report of the alien looking fish came from northern Canada back in 2013.

Caught near the northernmost province of Nunavut in Davis Straight, it
was first believed the odd fish was the similarly freakish goblin shark
until researchers confirmed it was the long-nosed chimaera.

'Potentially, if we fish deeper, maybe between 1,000 and 2,000 metres
(3,000 to 6,000 feet), we could find that's there's actually quite a lot
of them there,' University of Windsor researcher Nigel Hussey told CBC.
'We just don't know.

Hussey, who is credited with finally identifying the fish, says the mystery comes from the strange creature's rarity.

'Only one of these fish has previously been documented from the Hudson Strait,' Hussey said. - Daily Mail.

Scotland's beached whales suffered from heavy metal poisoning

High levels of toxins mercury and cadmium have been found in all
organs of the whales recently beached on Scotland's North Sea coast,
including the brain. The research shows that rising mercury levels in
the oceans leads to toxic stress in the long-lived marine mammals.

A pod of whales stranded in Fife in 2012 had high concentrations of
toxic chemicals, some of which had reached the mammals' brains,
scientists have discovered.

The pod of long-ﬁnned pilot whales were stranded on a beach between
Anstruther and Pittenweem in Scotland, on 12th September 2012.

Out of the 31 mammals which beached only 10 could be refloated and 21 - 16 females and five males - died.

Scientists from the University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, found mercury at levels high enough to cause severe neurological damage in humans. They also demonstrated for the first time that the toxic element cadmium can cross the blood-brain barrier.

"This pod of whales provides unique new insights because we were able to
look at the effects on a large number of whales from the same pod and
how this varied according to age", said author Dr Eva Krupp, an
environmental analytical chemist from the University of Aberdeen.

"We were able to gather an unprecedented number of tissue samples from
all the major organs including the brain and as a result we can see for
the first time the long term effects of mammalian exposure to the
environmental pollutants."
Unique insights into mammalian response to environmental pollutants

Their report, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment,
shows a clear correlation between the increased levels and the age of
the mammals, suggesting toxic stress increases the longer the mammals
live.

This could demonstrate that this species of marine mammal are less
susceptible to mercury poisoning than humans, but that they cannot
entirely discount the possibility that it is a factor leading to whales
navigating off course.

"We can see clear evidence that mercury is being transported through the
blood stream to all organs where it accumulates over the lifespan",
explained Dr Krupp. "As well as an increased concentration of mercury in
the brain as the whales become older, we see a similar effect with
cadmium, which has not been previously reported.

"It is known that cadmium can penetrate the blood brain barrier in the
new-born or developmental stages but it was not thought to do so in
adults. Our findings are significant because we can demonstrate for the
first time that cadmium is in the brain tissue and that its levels
increase with age.

"Although the body has a natural defence mechanism in the form of the
element selenium, which detoxifies these harmful chemicals, we found
that the majority of selenium is not available for the synthesis of
essential proteins in older animals. This indicates that the longer mammals live, the less able they may be to cope with the toxic effects."

Pollution may be responsible for whale strandings

Dr Krupp collected and analysed samples from the whales together with
PhD students Cornelius Brombach and Zuzana Gajdosechova. Analysis of
samples revealed that the level of mercury in the whales increased in
correlation to the age of the mammals, which ranged from under a year to
36 years.

They found very high concentrations of mercury in the brain of all the
whales older than nine years and in three the concentration was higher
than levels at which severe neurological damage would occur in humans.

Previous scientific studies have shown that mercury
concentrations in the oceans have notably risen since the industrial
revolution and through goldmining activities, which may in turn lead to
an increase of mercury levels in marine mammals.

"So far, we have no indication that the mercury and cadmium levels in
the brain cause disorientation, which in some cases can lead to
strandings, but there is a potential for higher stress in these iconic
animals due to rising toxic metal concentration in the oceans", Dr Krupp
added.

"More research is needed to investigate whether this is a factor in
strandings, particularly where other explanations such as illness or
weather events cannot be found."

March 9, 2016 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - Out of nowhere on Tuesday night, around 8 PM, Alex Arevalos, a student
and graphic designer in Alhambra, California, ten miles east of downtown
Los Angeles, heard a single, loud thud.

He immediately asked his sister if she'd slapped his bedroom wall. "She
said she didn't, so I automatically blamed the train," Arevalos, who
lives near train tracks, told VICE.

Then on Thursday around midnight, two similar sounds woke up Arevalos's
father, and when father and son spoke about it in the morning, the
younger Arevalos became convinced it was something abnormal.

"This
time as soon as I heard it, and heard the walls shake a bit, I listened
for the train, but didn't hear anything," adding, "I can tell the
difference now [between] the train and the booms."

Arevalos is far from alone. According to the local news site Alhambra Source, residents first reported hearing the booms on February 16
when a woman named Noelle Dominguez alerted her neighbors to them in a
private section of the community social network nextdoor.com. "I know
this sounds weird. But since [I've been] living in Alhambra, every other
night or so I hear a loud explosion-like noise," she wrote. Soon, other
nextdoor.com users shared similar experiences with the booms, according to Alhambra Source.

Two nights later, Alhambra Police Department posted about the booms on Facebook. Just after 8 PM, officers received reports of "a loud explosion heard in the northern end of our city."

The
police wrote that they've received multiple similar reports in recent
weeks, but that "unfortunately, we were unable to locate the origin. We
are as puzzled as everyone," Jerry Johnson, the Alhambra police
sergeant, told VICE. He said two on-duty officers heard the booms
recently, and they rushed toward the source, arriving just 90 seconds
after the sound dissipated.

Another user named Christopher Keller described them as akin to a sonic boom, saying he felt a "pressure wave." But he added that they were too close to be sonic booms.

An isolated series of sonic booms shook New Jersey
in late January—but that was an isolated incident brought on by several
fighter jets breaking the sound barrier around the same time above the
area.

Chris Paulson, the administrative services director for the city of
Alhambra, also called it a "sonic boom type of sound," made all the more
strange by the fact that it's being reported across an unusually wide
area. "We've investigated, and it's probably about a mile north to
south," he told VICE.

According to Alhambra Source,
there are construction projects going on in the area, but the local
public works department "does not believe that the projects are the
source of the noises." According to Paulson, that's because, "there's
simply no construction going on when those noises are heard."

VICE contacted a municipal consulting company called Transtech,
an engineering firm that contracts for Alhambra, inspecting safety
concerns at city construction projects. Transtech's Alhambra city
building official, Ayla Jefferson, told us she had heard of the booms, but has "no knowledge" of their origin.

Meanwhile, the booms continue unabated. For Arevalo, they've become part
of life in Alhambra. He described the most recent explosions he heard
as "just kind of there." Since he's been living near a train for 13
years, he says he's become accustomed to noise in general, adding that
"the only thing affecting my sleep is school."

But not everyone is tuning out the booms. According to Sergeant Johnson, "We're getting calls on this two or three times a day."

March 9, 2016 - UNITED STATES - What was this bright burning light striking the sky of Las Vegas and northern California on March 6, 2016?

It looks like a giant fireball disintegrating in the skies... But wait a minute...

WATCH: Fireball over Las Vegas.

This gigantic fireball is much too slow and remains incandescent for much too much time.

The northern California dashcam video is less clear than this first
footage. You see a faint ball of fire as the car turns on the right. But
the moving light is too far away to clearly determine its origin:

WATCH: Large meteor over southern California.

So what are these mysterious lights in the sky?

Let's say that the burning object in the northern California video is a real meteor falling down to Earth on March 6, 2016.

But what about the event filmed over Las Vegas? No meteor will burn so long in our atmosphere.

I didn't get any visits of some green aliens and it doesn't seem to me these are fireworks.

I thus guess this is the re-entry of a man-made space object.

Looking at aerospace.org,
there is this rocket body from Chinese Mission Yaogan 10 that is
supposed to re-enter tomorrow. But maybe the event occurred a bit faster
than predicted. - Strange Sounds.